Monday, January 07, 2008

The exhaust that I have on the ER34 is a cat back HKS Super Dragger; which means that the factory catalytic converter (cat) is still in place. The cat is a device used to reduce the toxicity of emissions from motor vehicle exhaust systems. Yes, it is a good thing and helps to protect the environment too.

BUT it also robs precious horsepower......so I've ordered in a replacement pipe to rid of the cat. I got the Kakimoto Catalyst Straight Pipe (Part No. NSP305) from Japan thanks to bro Lufias for helping with the purchase and courier. :)

So how's the car after the installation of the Kakimoto Catalyst Straight Pipe? Immediately the ER34 felt different! It now revs more smoothly to the higher range of the rev counter and sounds more menacingly solid. The stock boost on the ER34 was raised too. My mechanic says it's normal for boost to increase slightly with the cat out of the car. Thus it also felt more powerful. Gasp! :P

With the cat on previously, I've always gotten explosions from the exhaust on upshifts and also when I release the accelerator abruptly. But sadly though, no flames......now I get cool blue reddish flames thrown a feet away from the car. Woohoo.....must be a great view. I'll love to get a video or a picture of that!

On the con side of things, besides being a polluter, the ER34 is definitely going to gulp in more fuel than before. Perhaps, that's the price one has got to pay. With escalating fuel prices, this isn't quite well welcomed. Well at least I did shelved some weight off the car. The cat is bloody heavy weighing in at 4.5kg! Oh and I hope my rear bumper won't get burned too much that I need to wax it every a couple of days. :P

In case, you are wondering, the item price listed at Kakimoto Racing website is JPY 16,800 for the pipe and JPY 2,200 for the accessories (nuts, bolts and gaskets).

ej do be careful of the boost spike or creep, even the ecu do help to cut at 0.99bar or 1 bar, boost spike might kill your piston or valve as when you are boosting a sudden hike of 0.2 or more will give you tremendous change of pressure so a boost controller would be great to help hehehe

About Me

A skyline freak since young but grew stronger in 1996 when I first lay eyes on the midnight purple BCNR33. Finally after 10 years of admiration, my dream were realised with the acquisition of the ER34. Would of course prefer the BNR34 but wallet ain't that deep.
If you have any queries, feel free to email or MSN me via eujin[at]hotmail[dot]com